Who Gets to Keep Antiquities?

Article: Have you ever gone to a museum and seen "antiquities," or artifacts from other countries? Almost all major Western art museums have exhibits of items taken from other countries during the years of colonization. Now, their is a discussion about whether these items should be returned to the countries from where they were taken/stolen. For instance, the Getty Museum in LA, the MET in NY, the British Museum in London, all have masterpieces from Egypt, Turkey and elsewhere. The British Museum has the famous Parthenon Marble statues and Greece wants them back; they were removed by British Lord Elgin in 1801 and acquired by the museum in 1816. (Kids: have you read any Greek myths? If so, that is what the statutes are of). The Getty has already repatriated (dissect "repatriate"--"re" = again/return; "patria" = fatherland) more than 40 objects, including some of its best ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, after evidence surfaced that they had been stolen by looters. UNESCO thinks all of these types of art should be returned to the current government of the ancient land. Others say that the items could be in danger if returned (think what Islamic militants have done with other national treasures). Kids: what do you think should be done? Argue pros/cons.

Here's a picture of the Parthenon statutes in the British Museum: